I obtained my PhD in Theoretical Physics from the University of Barcelona in 2000. After that I spent many wonderful years working as a postdoc at the University of Oxford, UK (2001-2003), University College London, UK (2003-2006), and Imperial College London, UK (2006-2009). I briefly held a senior researcher and group leader position at BCAM, Bilbao, Spain (2009-2010), after which I moved the Centre Recerca Matematica where I lead the Cancer Modelling Group. I have also held visiting fellowships at the Universidad Complutense de Madrid, IIMAS (UNAM, Mexico DF), OCCAM (University of Oxford, UK), the Mathematical Institute (University of Oxford, UK), and the Mathematical Biosciences Institute (Columbus, Ohio, USA). In October 2015, I was appointed to an ICREA Research Professorship at the Centre de Recerca Matematica.
Research interests
My research focuses on Mathematical Biology, particularly in multi-scale and stochastic modelling of tumour growth and tumour-induced angiogenesis. The main aim of my research is to understand the mechanisms involved in drug resistance and formulate therapeutic strategies which are robust to such mechanisms. Although tumour growth is my main field of specialisation, I am interested in other areas of Mathematical Biology, particularly regarding cell reprogramming in cancer, senescence and ageing, tumour-induced angiogenesis, and epigenetic regulation.
Selected publications
- Stepanova D, Byrne HM, Maini PK & Alarcón T 2024, 'Computational modeling of angiogenesis: The importance of cell rearrangements during vascular growth', Wires mechanisms of disease, 16,2,e1634.
- Lázaro J, Albó A, Alarcón T, Elena SF, Sardanyés J 2024, 'No two without three: Modeling dynamics of the trio RNA virus-defective interfering genomes-satellite RNAs', Communications in nonlinear science and numerical simulation, 133 - 107987.
- Cuyàs E, Pedarra S, Verdura S, Pardo MA, Garcia RE, Serrano-Hervás E, Llop-Hernández A, Teixidor E, Bosch-Barrera J, López-Bonet E, Martin-Castillo B, Lupu R, Pujana MA, Sardanyes J, Alarcón T & Menendez JA 2024, 'Fatty acid synthase (FASN) is a tumor-cell-intrinsic metabolic checkpoint restricting T-cell immunity', Cell death discovery, 10 - 1 - 417.
- Conte M, Fernandez VCá, Oliver FJ, Alarcón T & Soler J 2024, 'Emergence of cyclic hypoxia and the impact of PARP inhibitors on tumor progression', Npj systems biology and applications, 10 - 1 -122.
Selected research activities
Co-organiser (jointly with Juan Calvo, David Poyato, y Juan Soler, Universidad de Granada (Spain)) of the MNAT-CRM summer school BIOMAT 2025: Exploring Mathematical Models in Immunology and Innovative Strategies in Immune Cell Reprogramming Therapies, June 2024, Universidad de Granada